A new exhibition at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology September 26, 2010 through February 6, 2011

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Archaeologists and Travelers in Ottoman Lands Logo

The Excavation at the Temple Court in Nippur

Oil on Canvas

Osman Hamdi Bey

1904

Object #48-2-332

This painting, based on an 1893 photograph by John Henry Haynes, was commissioned by the University of Pennsylvania in 1903 for its envisioned Nippur Gallery.

At the Mosque Door

Oil on Canvas

Osman Hamdi Bey

1891

Object #184892

This painting features several self-portraits of Hamdi Bey (based on photographs), plus unveiled, modern Turkish women.

Hymn to the Goddess Inanna

Clay

ca. 1730 BCE

Nippur

Object #B7847

Tablet translation of the hymn reads: Lady of all the divine powers, resplendent light, righteous woman clothed in radiance, beloved of An and Urac! Mistress of heaven, with the great diadem, who loves the good headdress befitting the office of priestess, who has seized all seven of its divine powers!

Medical Text

Clay

2200-2100 BCE

Nippur

Object #B14221

This is the oldest known medical text, written in Sumerian. It is a collection of 15 prescriptions, most involving obscure plants and potions.

Temple Court

Archival Print

John Henry Haynes

1893

This Nippur temple excavation photograph, by John Henry Haynes in 1893, became the frontispiece of Hilprecht's 1903 book, Explorations in Bible Lands, and subsequently the inspiration for Hamdi Bey's 1904 painting, "The Excavations at the Temple Court at Nippur." (Penn Museum negative # 305)

Ziggurat

Archival Print

John Henry Haynes

1893-94

John Henry Haynes photographed the ziggurat's foundations from a high vantage point and posed an isolated worker in the middle distance at an angle that dramatically emphasized the spatial recession. (Penn Museum negative # 5680)

Osman Hamdi Bey with J.P. Peters

Archival Print

Photographer Unknown

1889

Original Nippur excavation director J.P. Peters, University of Pennsylvania, visited Hamdi Bey on both journeys to Nippur, first from 1888-89 and then again from 1889-90. Here they are photographed in the garden of Hamdi Bey's family home on the Bosporus strait. (Penn Museum negative # 19194)

Nippur Team

Archival Print

C. Fisher

1900

The excavation team at Nippur included John Henry and Cassandria Haynes (center), and Hilprecht (standing right) wielding a golf club. This photo was taken at the end of the fourth season. Photo: C. Fisher. (Penn Museum negative # 184826)

Archival Print

Photographer Unknown

ca. 1900

John Henry Haynes in a studio portrait at the end of his career as an archaeologist. (Penn Museum negative # 149706)

Hermann Vollrath Hilprecht

Archival Print

Photographer Unknown

ca. 1895

Hermann Vollrath Hilprecht poses as an Oriental gentleman in his study in Constantinople (present-day Istanbul, Turkey). With the support of the University of Pennsylvania, he oversaw the excavations at Nippur from his base in Constantinople and catalogued the cuneiform tablets in the Imperial Museum. (Penn Museum negative # 102207)

Baghdad Along the Tigris

Archival Print

John Henry Haynes

ca. 1880s

This photo shows the banks of the Tigris River in Baghdad (present-day Iraq). The round, pitch-covered boats, known as kufas, float in the foreground, with a pontoon bridge visible in the distance. (Penn Museum neg. #184824)

Cappadocia Landscape

Archival Print

John Henry Haynes

ca. 1880s

The volcanic region of central Turkey fascinated Haynes, who took more than one hundred photos of it during his travels. Most depict the odd, eroded landscape into which dwellings and chapels were created in the 9th -14th centuries CE. (Penn Museum negative # 174585)

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Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture play two dates during the Penn Museum's Silk Road Summer Nights music series under Director Hanna Khoury and feature classical Arab music on the June 23 and Egyptian music on July 7.

Kurt Jong, pictured seated with fellow musicians, will duet a mix of Chinese folk pieces with performer, Qin Qian, on Wednesday, June 30, during the Penn Museum's Silk Road Summer Nights music sereis, from 5 to 8 pm.

Mandolins, mandolas, a mandocello and a guitar will be featured during the Philadelphia Mandolin Ensemble's session from 5 to 8 pm on July 14, during the Penn Museum's Silk Road Summer Nights music series.

Animus performs during the Penn Museum's Silk Road Summer Nights music series on Wednesday, July 21 from 5 to 8 pm.

David's Harp returns to the Penn Museum for the Silk Road Summer Nights music series to play one of ten live music performances taking place in the Museum's Warden Garden every Wednesday starting June 23, from 5 to 8 pm.

Two of Aravod's four members will perform Greek, Armenian and Arab songs on August 18 during the Penn Museum's Silk Road SummerNights music series taking place every Wednesday night from June 23 to August 25, from 5 to 8 pm.

Joseph Tayoun, left, brings together local and international musicians for his Mid East Ensemble performing on August 25, the final Wednesday of Penn Museum's Silk Road Summer Nights music series.

Penn Museum and Penn Medicine Research Collaboration Yields First Promising Evidence For Efficacy of Medicinal Compounds Once Employed by Our Ancestors

Photo captions:

The following three images were taken at the Abramson Cancer Center laboratory, part of the University of Pennsylvania Health System:

Team of researchers involved in the Archaeological Oncology ("Digging for Drug Discovery") Project, from left to right: Patrick E. McGovern, archaeochemist and ancient alcohol expert and head of the University of Pennsylvania Museum's Biomolecular Archaeology Laboratory; Melpo Christofidou-Solomidou, Research Associate Professor at the Pulmonary Allergy and Critical Care Division of the Department of Medicine, and an Abramson Cancer Center Investigator; and Floyd Dukes, Research Specialist, Christofidou-Lab.

Patrick McGovern and Melpo Christofidou-Solomidou examine a sherd from Jiahu (China), which provided evidence for the earliest alcoholic beverage in the world to date--ca. 7000 B.C. The compounds included potential medicinal additives.

The following images feature artifacts/ancient Egyptian sites where residues from ancient herbal wines were tested by Dr. McGovern for medicinal properties, reported upon in the April 2009 edition of PNAS (106:18: 7361-7366).

The inside of this wine vessel sherd contains a yellowish residue, the accumulation of organic materials from the upper surface of the wine that once filled the inside of jar no. 50 from the tomb (U-j) of Scorpion I at Abydos (Egypt), ca. 3150 B.C. (Hartung 2001: cat. no.156, pls. 58:and 94:156). The residue, forming a circle around the vessel's interior, is slanted off from the horizontal because the jar with its liquid was tilted in antiquity. Analyses showed that herbs including balm,coriander, mint, sage and many more were steeped in the wine, to which pine resin and fig were also added. Ht. of sherd 33.5 cm. Photo courtesy of German Archaeological Institute in Cairo.

A "wine cellar for eternity": Peering down at some of 700 wine jars buried with Scorpion I, one of the first kings of Egypt, in his tomb (U-j ) at Abydos, about 3150 BC. The wine, laced with pine resin, figs and herbs (including balm,coriander, mint, sage and many more), was a true medicinal elixir for the afterlife. (Photograph courtesy of German Institute of Archaeology, Cairo.)

Scorpion I's tomb at Abydos, showing one of the chambers filled with wine jars before excavation. (Photograph courtesy of German Institute of Archaeology, Cairo.)

A selection of wine jars from Scorpion I's tomb at Abydos, laid out on the desert sand. (Photograph courtesy of German Institute of Archaeology, Cairo.)

The following images come from Chinese excavations at Jiahu and Changzikou (Luyi county, Henan province). Dr. McGovern tested the contents of the Changzikou lidded jar, dated ca. 1050 B.C., and discovered a rice wine containing a range of medicinal compounds from Artemisia annua (wormwood), Artemisia annua (mugwort), China fir tree resin (Cunninghamia lanceolate (Lamb.), and/or a flower in the chrysanthemum family. The residues from the much older early Neolithic Jiahu jars have not yet been tested for any botanical additives, but represent the earliest alcoholic beverage yet discovered from anywhere in the world. It was a mixed beverage made from rice, hawthorn fruit and/or grape, and honey.,

Typical jars with high flaring necks and rims, which were well-suited for serving a fermented beverage. From Jiahu, Henan province, China, ca. 7000-6600 B.C. Dr. Patrick E. McGovern and his colleagues analyzed similar jar sherds and discovered that they contained a mixed fermented beverage of rice, honey, and fruit (hawthorn fruit and/or grape). Photograph courtesy of Juzhong Zhang and Zhiqing Zhang, Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology of Henan Province, Zhengzhou, China.

This lidded wine jar (Chinese you) was one of more than 90 bronze vessels associated with an elite burial in the Changzikou Tomb (Luyi county, Henan province). 52 lidded examples, including this one, were still a quarter- to half-full of liquid when the tomb was opened. Chemical analysis by Eric D. Butrym of Firmenich Corp. revealed that two aromatic compounds - camphor and alpha-cedrene - were present in the liquid, in addition to benzaldehyde, acetic acid, and short-chain alcohols characteristic of rice wine. Isotopic analysis by Michael P. Richards of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology confirmed that the beverage was most likely rice-based. A single open vat, filled with leaves of Osmanthus fragrans and holding a ladle, was also found in the tomb. Possibly, the fermented beverage in the lidded containers of the tomb was steeped in the leaves, which have a floral aroma like the flowers that are used today in flavoring teas and beverages, and then transferred to the vessels. The rice wine in the vessel would have been made by saccharifying the grain sugars with molds, a uniquely Chinese contribution to fermented beverage-making. Photograph courtesy of Zhiqing Zhang, Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology of Henan Province, Zhengzhou, China.

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Dancers from AlohaStyle kick off Summer Wonder 2010 at the Penn Museum on Wednesday, June 23, with a colorful performance of traditional Polynesian dance.

Animus fuses ancient and modern musical traditions from countries ranging from the Middle East to South America during the Penn Museum's Summer Wonder program on Wednesday, June 30.

Select musicians from Minas perform an energetic review of the music of Brazil during the Penn Museum's Summer Wonder program on Wednesday, July 7.

Storyteller Tom Lee brings to life folktales from Thailand and Southeast Asia on July 14 at the Penn Museum's Summer Wonder program.

The Spice Route Ensemble performs a mix of Middle Eastern music at this year's Summer Wonder program on Wednesday, July 21, at the Penn Museum.

A Roman millitary and gladitorial demonstration offers attendees the opportunity to re-enact battle formations and try on Roman helmets and shields on Wednesday, July 28, during the Penn Museum's Summer Wonder 2010 program.

Rainbow Child International performs an intreractive program singing and telling stories, all the while engaging the audience, on Wednesday, August 4, at the Penn Museum's Summer Wonder 2010 program.

Mock Turtle Marionette Theatre presents the Summer Wonder 2010 grand finale on Wednesday, July 11, with a performance of "The Dancing Granny: Tales of African Origin." A multitude of puppets take the stage and tell stories through song and dance.

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Penn Museum and Franklin Institute Offer Discounted Double Ticket Available June 5 through January 2 During Run of Cleopatra

Visitors look up at the Penn Museum's 3,200-year-old red granite Sphinx-the third largest ancient sphinx in the world-in the Museum's Lower Egyptian Gallery.

A 12-ton Sphinx, the third largest ancient sphinx in the world, is surrounded by architectural elements from the Palace of the Pharaoh Merenptah, all ca 1200 BC., in the Penn Museum’s Lower Egyptian Gallery.

This Mummy Portrait of a Woman, with frame, dates from the Greco-Roman Period of ancient Egyptian history (2nd century AD), and comes at a time when portraits had become a popular substitute for mummy masks. The frame, not originally belonging to the painting, is one of the earliest in existence. (Objects E16214, E16315)

A larger than life statue of Ramesses II, ca 1250 BC, dominates the Lower Egyptian Gallery of the Penn Museum. (Object E635)

Kneeling Figure of Tutankhamun, ca 1332-1322 BC. This royal statuette may represent Tutankhamun. The figure's arms originally exrtended forward as the king would have been offering jars to a deity. Traces of gold suggest that several areas were gilded, and the eyes and eyebrows may have had inlays. (Object E14295)

Gold Sekhmet Necklace, from Memphis, Egypt, ca 570-626 BC. The necklace consists of cowrie shell-shaped beads, two large barrel-shaped beads, a pomegranate-shaped bead, and a cast solid gold amulet of the goddess Sekhmet. Depicted as a woman with the head of a lioness, Sekhmet was the consort of Ptah, the patron deity of the Memphite area.

This Gilded Mask from the Penn Museum's Upper Egyptian Gallery, dates to the Ptolemaic-Roman Period of ancient Egyptian history, sometime after 300 BC. It would originally have covered the head of a mummy. (Object # 53-20-1a)

]]>Press ImagesTue, 27 Apr 2010 19:44:57 +0000FOR PRESS ONLY - Adopt an Artifact Day!http://www.penn.museum/long-term-exhibits/81-press-room/press-images/527-for-press-only-adopt-an-artifact-day.html
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Adopt an Artifact Day! takes place Saturday, May 1, 2010.

Adopt an Artifact Logo

Family pays a visit to the Penn Museum and adopts the sphinx while they're there!

One of a pair of Foo Lions gets adopted by a Penn Museum visitor!

While cats and other animals could be beloved pets, most of the animal mummies we have were sacred creatures, representatives of the divine.

This bowl with ancestral Pueblo hand design was made in 1400-1500 AD.

This clay figure from Veracruz Mexico wears an elaborate skin shirt and animal headdress that may indicate that he is a shaman.

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Swing your hips, learn a few moves, and burn calories! Habiba, international belly dancer, offers introductory belly dance workshops on Saturday, March 20, as preview to her six-week course at the Penn Museum.

Habiba's hips don't lie! Under her tutelage learn the basics, understand the history behind the dance, and watch Habiba perform during the Saturday, March 20 workshops, which are a preview to her six-week course at the Penn Museum.\

Habiba, international belly dance star, offers introductory belly dance workshops on Saturday, March 20, as preview to her six-week course at the Penn Museum.

Cheyenne Village on Canadian River, modern gelatin silver print from original glass plate negative, ca 1888-1891; courtesy Joe Swalwell collection. Photo: William J. Lenny and William L. Sawyers.

Five Indian men, modern gelatin silver print from original glass plate negative, ca 1888-1891; courtesy Joe Swalwell collection. Photo: William J. Lenny and William L. Sawyers.

]]>Press ImagesMon, 22 Feb 2010 20:25:04 +0000FOR PRESS ONLY - Anthropologists in the Makinghttp://www.penn.museum/long-term-exhibits/81-press-room/press-images/533-for-press-only-anthropologists-in-the-making.html
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Anthropologists in the Making - Penn Museum's Summer Camp Program begins June 21 and continues with different weekly sessions through August 13, 2010.

Camper and Counselor crafting at the Penn Museum's Anthropologists in the Making Summer Camp program.

Camper having excavation fun during the Museum's Anthropologists in the Making Summer Camp.

Creating a sailing vessel for the high seas is no small feat during Anthropologists in the Making Summer Camp program.

Campers reenacting a Roman infantry formation at the Penn Museum's Anthropologists in the Making Summer Camp program.

Getting crafty during Anthropologists in the Making Summer Camp program at the Penn Museum.

Campers and Counselor Jenn at the Penn Museum's Anthropologists in the Making Summer Camp program.

Campers share a moment at the Penn Museum's Anthropologists in the Making Summer Camp program.

]]>Press ImagesFri, 05 Feb 2010 21:59:00 +0000FOR PRESS ONLY - Help for Haiti: Beyond Media Coveragehttp://www.penn.museum/long-term-exhibits/81-press-room/press-images/534-for-press-only-help-for-haiti-beyond-media-coverage.html
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Help for Haiti: Beyond Media Coverage, An Evening of Philanthropy and Learning, Thursday, February 25, 6:30 to 8:30 pm

Portraits from The Heart of Haiti, a hardcover book of black and white photography accompanied by one-line Creole proverbs. All photos are the exclusive copyright of Andrea Baldeck.

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Multi-disciplinary artist Pablo Helguera creates What in the World, an "Unauthorized Biography" of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, a new installation, part of the international festival Philagrafika 2010 "Out of Print" collaboration. The installation is on view at the Penn Museum January 29 through April 11, 2010.

What in the World Logo

Philagrafika Out of Print Logo

Pictured here: From the 1950s What In The World television show, Carleton Coon, Loren Eiseley, and Schuyler Cammann study an object, while Alfred Kidder II moderates. A boom operator is in right foreground. Photographed at WCAU Studios, ca. 1955. Photo: Penn Museum (image # 140916)